New Bail Bill helping to make T&T safer

In parliament we have the Government and the Opposition. The Government crafts legislation while the Opposition acts as checks and balances. While this is crucial for a democratic society, the blatant non-support for any bill whatsoever is a haemorrhage that we as citizens have to live with in this country.

We have reached the stage where a day without a murder is a “big thing”. If you sit to analyse this, you will realise that we are living in a self-contained state of emergency.

The reality is that we suffer when the opposition party does not put the country’s best interest at heart. Instead, it prefers to have countless citizens lose their lives daily in an effort to gain political power by not supporting any bill the Government presents.

One key example of this is, recently, the Bail Amendment Bill was tabled for discussion in Parliament.

The key facts were that people convicted of criminal offences will be sent to jail and denied bail for 120 days if they had a previous conviction, and if the case starts, there will be no bail, at least until an entire year passes. If they have two prior convictions, they would not be granted bail.

It is noteworthy that most of the crimes committed are mainly due to repeat offenders, making this piece of legislation a key tool for the Judiciary. This legislation, therefore, will serve as a deterrent to crime.

I must thank the Government for crafting this piece of legislation so that we can have a safer environment to live in.